Houston firefighters take battle over pay to voters

HOUSTON — Houston firefighters who have been in a bitter battle with the city for higher wages are taking their case to voters. Firefighters in the nation’s fourth-largest city are asking for pay parity with local police in a proposal that Houston’s mayor insists would be “a financial disaster for the city.” Houston residents will vote on the plan for the city’s 4,000 firefighters on Nov. 6. The firefighters’ union says its members have had only a 3 percent pay raise since 2011 and they are woefully underpaid compared with Houston police and other fire departments across the country. Houston police officers got a 7 percent pay raise earlier this month. Mayor Sylvester Turner says he respects firefighters, but that the proposal would cost too much. The city estimates the initial cost at up to $100 million. Turner says city services would have to be cut and hundreds of city workers, including first responders, would lose their jobs. Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, calls Turner’s dire financial warnings a “phony budget crisis.” Lancton has questioned the changing figures the city has used to calculate the price tag, but he didn’t offer his own cost estimate. Lancton said some firefighters have to work two or three jobs to support their families. “When you don’t equally value the service and sacrifice of firefighters just like you do police officers, you fail to make public safety the No. 1 priority,” Lancton said. The plan calls for firefighters and… [Read full story]